Home Office warns 92- year- old: Get out of UK or face prison
number to them.” Mrs Wills said her mother was now very stressed by the prospect of landing in South Africa without money or family support.
“She’s on antidepressants. She can’t sleep and has lost almost a stone in the past six months as a direct result of all this worry,” she said.
“When I got the call to say they had booked her on the plane I started crying. My mother was in a terrible state. She couldn’t eat anything.
“Going back to South Africa would kill her. I won’t let her go. If they want to take her, they are going to have to go through me fi rst.
“Considering some of the people who win the right to stay here, some awful criminals, how can they be bellyaching about a 92- year- old?
“My mother is not relying on any state support. We look after her.”
Mrs Cothill’s barrister, Jan Doerfel, said: “This is heartbreaking. If Myrtle does not depart she will be at risk of immigration detention and enforced removal.”
James Davies, her immigration adviser at International Care Network in Bournemouth, said: “Myrtle is dependent on the emotional and physical care of her daughter. To take a decision to remove her is contrary to every human instinct or duty to care for our elders.”
The Home Offi ce said: “All applications are considered on their individual merits and in line with immigration rules. The decision on this case was upheld by two independent tribunals.”